Barahona Coverage

GOOD EATS

MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – Miami-Dade circuit judge Sarah Zabel was expected to announce Wednesday if the adoptive parents of murdered 10-year old Nubia Barahona would be be tried separately.

Instead, she issued a notice that her ruling will be delayed until the state’s case is ready to go to trial.

On Tuesday, an attorney for Jorge Barahona filed a motion to separate the trials.

Jorge and Carmen Barahona are both charged with first-degree murder after their adoptive daughter Nubia’s body was found partially decomposed in the back of Jorge’s pickup truck along I-95 in West Palm Beach on February 14, 2011. Jorge Barahona is being represented by court-appointed attorney David Peckins.

Nubia’s twin brother Victor survived. Victor had sustained injuries that left him badly burned after he was doused with a toxic chemical.

Guardian Ad-Litem Attorney Frances J. Feinberg is against having separate trials because it would further traumatize Victor.

“We object because it’s more trauma to the child,” said Feinberg.

Victor now lives with relatives in Texas. Feinberg also said the child would have to travel more and that would “not be in the best interest of the child.”

Nubia and Victor were adopted by the Barahonas in 2009 after living in their home since 2004. The kids, authorities discovered, had endured starvation, beatings, medical neglect and they had been tied and forced to stay in a bathtub.

The Barahonas have pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.